


Like Kids

by doc_pepps



Category: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Other, Pre-Relationship, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 16:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7515712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doc_pepps/pseuds/doc_pepps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been a rough day for Sundance; he had burned himself that morning after his spoon became submerged in Etta's leftover soup.<br/>Butch was laughing at him, and Etta shouted at him because she thought he didn't like her soup.<br/>She took the soup away from him before kicking him out, and he had been hungry since that morning.<br/>Butch felt bad now, and told Sundance he would buy him some food.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Kids

“Well, I suppose this is as good a place as any to bunk down for the night.”  
Butch led his horse to the hitching post, tied her up and began stretching his legs after the long trek.  
Sundance followed suit; he was in no mood for talking.

It had been a rough day for Sundance; he had burned himself that morning after his spoon became submerged in Etta's leftover soup.  
Butch was laughing at him, and Etta shouted at him because she thought he didn't like her soup.  
She took the soup away from him before kicking him out, and he had been hungry since that morning.  
Butch felt bad now, and told Sundance he would buy him some food.

“Go order us some drinks and I'll pay for the room,” he offered as he walked off toward the traveller's inn.  
It was nicer than some places they had stayed in, but not as fancy as the establishments you could find in the bigger cities.  
For the middle of nowhere, it was more than decent.

_Better than another night of sleeping with one eye open._

Butch heard Sundance grunt in agreement as they separated.

*******

Butch had splurged on a nice double room for him and Sundance, it was the least he could do after the day Sundance'd had.  
Butch chuckled to himself as he stepped back out on the dirt road.  
He couldn't stop picturing The Kid's shocked face as Etta slammed the door on them.

The woman wouldn't abide her cooking skills being brought into question – even if it was just a misunderstanding.

_We'll have to make it up to her next time we head around._  
A bunch of flowers, maybe?  
Butch shook his head.  
_I reckon a new coat would do her better._  
_It's been getting cold again lately, I'll find her a nice one from Paris in one of those fancy boutiques._

Butch supposed this was why he never had any money when he needed it.  
He made more money in the average heist than he ever would have working honestly, but he supposed that it encouraged a kind of “easy-come, easy-go” mentality within him.

He was distracted from his thoughts by a sudden raucous shout – and when he looked to the noisy bar it was obvious that there was a brawl about to break loose.  
_Goddammit, Kid..._

Sure enough, when he pushes through the doors, Sundance is being pinned down by a bunch of guys, shouting and cursing like all hell.

“Jesus, Kid, that might actually be a new record. I leave you alone for five minutes and look what happens!”  
The men turn angrily and Butch raises his palms in peace when he sees that no guns are currently pointed at him.

“I do apologise, gents,” he starts with a grin, and the room visibly stiffens.

“Just let me talk to my friend here and we'll be out of your hair in no time.”  
Sundance grunts in refusal and anger but the blood flowing into his nose makes it impossible to understand what he's actually saying.

The barman asserts nervously that he won't put up with brawling in his saloon, and some of the men laugh derisively at the middle-aged man.

Butch rubs the back of his neck in irritation.  
_Looks like we'll have to buy our way out of this one._

“Alright, gimme The Kid and I'll buy everyone a round of drinks,” he sighs.  
A cheer sounds from the thugs, and they shove a raging, bloodied Sundance into Butch's arms.

The bartender thanks Butch as he lays enough money for the men on the counter, and Butch asks him to send some dinner up to their hotel room.  
The barman nods with an obvious smile of relief.  
“It'll be up shortly, sir.”

*******

Butch is supporting Sundance around the waist, walking him across the street to their lodging when Sundance wipes the blood from his nose and growls that he needs to go back in there.

“Take me back, Butch. I'm not done with those guys”

Butch laughs haughtily.  
“I know you've been having a bad day, Kid, but I'm not going to help you get beat up. Is this all about that soup?”

“No, jackass, it's not about the soup. Would you shut up about the soup already!? Those idiots took something of mine.”

“They took something? Well, what'd they take?”

“Just let me go back in, Butch.”  
Sundance tried to wrench himself out of Butch's grip, but staggered a little.

“No, what was it?”

Sundance was silent.

“It's nothing,” The Kid shouted,  
“Forget it!”

Butch shook his head in confusion.  
The main thing was getting his partner cleaned up and fed, he decided.  
He didn't want to poke the bear any more than necessary.

*******

They entered the double room, and Butch ordered Sundance to sit at the small desk while he fetched a rag and washbasin.  
Sundance was still grumbling quietly about going back to the men, although he seemed less aggressive about it than before.  
Butch sits at the edge of the bed and wipes the blood from his friend's nose, lip and chin.

“Pinch it closed, it'll stop the bleeding.”

Sundance complied begrudgingly.

“It doesn't look broken anyway, it was just a hard bash.”

Sundance grunted.

“Poor kid. Today sure hasn't been your lucky day, has it?”

“You shut your mouth, Butch.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Food's here, sirs,” a feminine voice calls, muffled by the closed door.

“Come on in,” Butch called back, rubbing the last traces of blood from Sundance's cheek and throwing the rag to the other side of the room before wiping his hands on his trousers.

The young girl smiled nervously, opening the door handle with her elbow and reversing into the room.  
She was carrying a copious amount of beef and vegetables on a large platter, and looked like she was struggling.

“Here, let me help you with that, ma'am.”

Butch took the heavy tray of food with a cordial grin, causing the girl to blush deeply and look away.

He carefully set it down on the desk and began rifling through his pockets for his money.

“Now, how much do we owe you for this lovely feast?” he asked as he pulled out a pouch of coins.

The girl shook her head.  
“My dad says it's on the house. On account of you handling that brawl peacefully and all that,” she smiles appreciatively.

Butch shakes his head and tries to shove a few bills in the girl's hand.

“There's really no need for that, I just didn't see the need for any more roughhousing in such a nice establishment.”

Sundance rolls his eyes from his spot by the desk.

The girl smiles and shakes her head once again, and on her way out she turns and hesitates by the doorway.

“You sure saved my dad a lot of trouble anyway, sir. Those awful men said that the mood was ruined and they set out back to their camp on the outskirts after they finished their drinks.”

Sundance's eyes glinted at those words.  
_A camp on the outskirts of town, huh?_

Butch grins genuinely at the girl as she closes the door, not noticing the cogs turning in Sundance's mind.  
He turns and pats Sundance on the shoulder, grabbing a plate of beef and vegetables with the other hand.

“What a nice young girl, huh Sundance? I'm glad we could help her and her dad out like that.”

Butch strode to the small table and chairs by the window, and Sundance soon followed, plate of food in hand.  
He really was hungry from the soup earlier.

“You know, it would have been better if you had let me teach those sons-of-bitches a lesson,”  
Sundance began, buttering a slice of bread for himself.  
“They deserved it, and I doubt they'd come back to bother that nice girl and her father that way.”  
He put down the knife and shoved the bread into his mouth.  
“Or anyone else for that matter,” he added, crumbs spilling all over the table.

Butch looked up from his meal, eyebrows raised.

“Aw, you're just in a bad mood, kid. You wouldn't make that girl and her daddy clean all that blood from their floorboards, would you? Not when there was another way?”

Sundance poured himself a jug of water and drank it down thirstily.  
He slammed the tankard down and sighed.  
“You're too nice for your own good, Butch. You're gonna find yourself in trouble someday.”

Butch leaned back, crossing his arms indignantly.

“Well, Sundance, I've been in this business a couple years longer than you; and if there's one thing I've learned it's that the kindest way usually works out best for everyone involved."

Sundance guffaws, his mouth now full of peas.  
“Whatever you say, Butch.”

The men ate their food enthusiastically as the sky went dark outside the window.

“Besides,” Butch began after a while.

“Huh?” Sundance mumbled.

“I know if I did ever get into trouble for being too nice, you'd show up guns blazing.”

Sundance let his shoulders drop and laughed despite himself, mirroring Butch's smiling face with his own.

“Yeah, sure thing, Butch,” he conceded, shaking his head and still grinning.

*******

A few hours had passed , and Butch was fast asleep.

Or so Sundance thought.

He got out of bed quietly, and he slowly pulled on his clothes, coat and holsters.  
He grabbed his hat and gun on the way out and congratulated himself for being so sneaky as he slipped out the door of the inn, onto the nighttime streets.

_Dammit, Sundance,_ Butch thought to himself from his warm bed.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and peeked out the hotel room window.

_Toward the outskirts, huh? How did I guess?_

Butch sat up and pulled his boots on groggily.

_I'll just have to follow him. He'll never tell me if I ask where he went, and he'll be thankful for the backup if it all goes south..._

Butch tried to open the handle with his left hand as he swung his jacket over his shoulder.

_That's funny, I don't remember this door being stiff when I came in..._

He tried with his right, and it took him a moment to realise that the door was locked.

_Well, shit._

*******

Sundance found the camp alright.  
It was hard not to with all the shouting and the fire and the stench of cheap beer.

_Jesus Christ, it smells like someone set a brewery on fire._

He held his nose as he snuck up to the horses.

_It's unlikely that they'd keep it in the saddlebag overnight, you'd have to be a special kind of stupid to leave something that valueable--_

His hand struck the familiar curved metal, and he pursed his lips in pure disbelief of the irony of the situation.

_Well, that was easier than I imagined._

He palmed the item and ran off towards the inn before he was discovered.

_Well,_ he thought,  
_It must be after midnight.  
My luck's turned back around by the looks of it._

*******

Butch heard footsteps outside the door to the room.

_Sundance._

He jumped onto the bed, crossing his arms over his stomach and closing his eyes as he heard the key turning the lock.  
He tried not to show any indication that he was awake, instead letting Sundance think he had gotten away with it.

_Until I bring it up at a later date,_ he thought to himself with a grin, giving himself away in the process.

Sundance sighed when he saw Butch start to shake with suppressed laughter, and headed over to the washbasin.  
Butch watched as the younger man washed his face and toed off his boots. 

He grabbed something from his jacket pocket and tossed it in Butch's direction.  
The metal object landed on Butch's stomach and he sat up with a yelp.  
He leans forward as he recognises the silvery object, shiny and new looking.

"My old hip-flask! You got it cleaned, it looks brand new!"

Sundance grunts as Butch leans forward to inspect the flask and smiles widely.

He had stripped down to his long-johns and couldn't wait to get some much needed rest.

"It's even got my initials engraved on it! Now what'd you go to all that trouble for?"

Sundance shrugged.  
"It was just a thought. It was dirty, don't make a big deal of it."

"Don't make a big deal," Butch guffaws, "that's one of the sweetest things you've ever done for me, kid."

Butch stands up and swings an arm around The Kid's shoulders.

"What will people say about us, kid? You're gonna make me break a lot of girls' hearts..."

"Fuck off," Sundance blushes furiously, shoving Cassidy away as he laughs.

"Aw, kid, don't be mad at me!"  
Butch raises his palms in surrender once more that day.

"I'm not, now go to sleep, asshole."

"Kid," Butch says amiably, wrapping his arms around Sundance from behind.

Sundance holds his breath, as a still smiling Butch plants a big wet kiss on his cheek, exaggerating the loud smooch.  
Sundance flinches and struggles against Butch's firm hold.

“Jesus, Butch, I told you I hate when you get all touchy-feely, goddammit!”

Sundance tries an elbow in the ribs, but is caught by surprise with a tickle round his rib-cage, and despite himself he lets out a surprised chortle.

Butch lets him go, laughing himself, and he ruffles Sundance's blonde hair.

"Thanks for the present, partner,” he chuckles, and jumps back into his own bed, leaving the kid standing there, fists clenched.

"G'night, partner!" Butch says from underneath his thick blankets, and Sundance can practically hear the smug smile on the other man's face.

“Early start tomorrow if you want my help making up with Etta.”

Sundance finishes getting undressed and gets into bed, too tired to keep scowling; all the while thinking something along the lines of:  
_The things I do for that ridiculous son of a bitch..._

Butch went to sleep with a smile on his face as the moon shone off his father's old hip-flask on his bedside locker;  
the only memento he had of his life way back before he was Butch Cassidy of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm glad I got this finished and I hope at least one person enjoys it, heh heh.  
> I'm tempted to write a quick one-shot about the soup fiasco, so watch this space...  
> all comments would be appreciated, I'd love to hear some feedback, thanks~  
> (also this is my first time publishing anything online, ahh)


End file.
